


Simulation 117

by madlaw



Series: The Simulations [2]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 18:20:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7372540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madlaw/pseuds/madlaw





	Simulation 117

Stakeouts are the bane of Shaw’s existence.  Stakeouts with Lionel make her want to stab herself in the eye with a hot poker.  “Quite a homebody, our guy.”  Ignoring him, Shaw unwraps her sandwich and takes a bite.  “Don’t suppose you brought any to share, huh?” Hitting the electric locks, Shaw reaches over and opens his door, unceremoniously pushing him out onto the sidewalk.  “Sheesh! A simple no would have done,” he grumpily points out as he brushes himself off and starts to get back in the car.  Before Fusco gets a chance to sit down, Shaw spots their number walking out his door.  Turning the car on, Shaw prepares to follow.  “Stop fooling around Fusco, our number is on the move.”  Incredulously, Fusco gets back in the car quickly, before Shaw takes off, dragging him behind her.

“Finch, our man is on the move.  What did you find “Our number, Tom Gordon, is a security guard at the museum of art.  He works the night shift.  Right now there are two unique exhibits on loan to the museum.  One contains President Lincoln’s draft of the manuscript of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution—one of only 14 copies signed by Lincoln—together with other rare documents and artifacts associated with Lincoln’s funeral.  But more interesting is the second exhibition.  “Signal to Code” explores 50 years of electronic and digital artwork and ephemera, with 60 original electronic and digital artworks in video, sound, portable media and the Internet.”

“Why would some computerized art place someone in danger?” 

“That is what you need to uncover, Ms. Shaw.  Ms. Groves and I will continue to dig into Tom’s life and see if we can find a connection.”  In the background, Shaw hears Root, “Hi Sameen…do you miss me yet?”  Rolling her eyes, Shaw tells her, “You’re not here?  I hadn’t noticed.”   While driving, Shaw absently rubs the back of her ear and immediately sees a bolt of lightning behind her eyes.  As the car begins to swerve, Fusco reaches over, yanks the wheel, and cries, “Jesus Shaw, are you falling asleep?!”  

“I’m fine,” Shaw snaps.  When they reach the museum, Shaw decides to go inside to keep her eyes on Tom and investigate the exhibit they think may be related to the danger he’s in.  “Stay here.  I’m going in.”  Whining, Fusco asks, “Why do I always have to stay in the car?”  Slamming the door, Shaw states, “Because I’m better with a gun.”  As she wanders in the museum, Shaw absently rubs the back of her ear and again immediately sees a bolt of lightning behind her eyes.  The next thing she knows, she’s next to the exhibit and Tom lies dead on the floor.  She has no idea what happened.  As she stares stupefied, she sees Martine exit the museum with what looks like a disc in her hands.  Instead of chasing her, Shaw stands there, staring blankly after her.  “What the hell’s wrong with me?” she worries.

Snapping out of it, Shaw taps her earpiece and tells Finch what she found.  “Ms. Shaw, do not go after Martine by yourself.  John’s on his way to help.”  John arrives shortly, and they head out to pick up Martine’s trail.  Through Root, the Machine guides them to an empty warehouse, which is the last place Martine appeared on the surveillance cameras.  Absentmindedly rubbing the back of her ear, the bolt of lightning behind her eyes confuses Shaw.  As she tries to clear her mind, light comes in and out like a strobe light in her field of vision.  When the effect disappears, Shaw feels her hands wet and dripping.  She looks down to see herself covered in blood, with a knife in her hand.  John lays a few feet from her, his throat slashed.

Through her earpiece, Shaw hears Finch, “Ms. Shaw, is everything okay?  Mr. Reese is not answering his comm.”  Not really understanding, but knowing she needs to lie, she tells Finch, “I’m not sure what happened, Martine got the drop on us…John’s dead.”  Immediately, Shaw hears Root, “Sameen, are you alright? We’ll figure this out; get back here before you get hurt.”  After a long moment, Shaw tells her, “I need to go after Martine and we can’t just leave John here.  He deserves better than that.”  Knowing she’s right, Root still doesn’t want Shaw out there on her own, chasing Martine.  “I’m on my way, wait for me.  Shaw?!  Wait for me.”

But when Root gets to the warehouse, Shaw is gone.  She calls Fusco, explaining, and asking him to come get John to the morgue.  Devastated, but knowing John would want him to help the team, Fusco agrees.  Root takes off after Shaw, asking the Machine for help.  Strangely silent, the Machine offers no information.  After searching fruitlessly for hours, Root finds Shaw at a playground.  Rushing over, Root asks, “Sameen, are you alright? What happened?”  Shaw doesn’t answer, staring down at the gun in her hand.  As Root glances down, she sees Harold, a head wound slowly leaking blood. 

Not wanting to believe what’s she’s seeing, she slowly turns back to Shaw.  As she does, she sees Shaw pointing a gun at her, hand steady, blank look in her eyes.  Having come to expect it, Shaw strokes the back of her ear, the bolt of lightning appearing behind her eyes.  Shaw wavers, unsteady on her feet.  Horrified, not wanting to believe what she sees, searching for any explanation other than the obvious, Root implores, “Sameen, talk to me.  What’s going on?”

“I killed them.  Now I’m going to kill you.”  Ignoring the threat to her own life, bewildered, Root whispers, “Why Sameen? How could you…?”  An anguished look on her face, Shaw tells her, “They broke me Root, I held out for such a long time.  But I had no idea what was real.  I still don’t.”

“Sameen, we can figure this out.  You aren’t going to hurt me.  You know it and I know it.”

“You’re right.  I’m not.  But I can’t take the risk I might.” 

Looking into Root’s eyes, Shaw brings the gun to her head and kills herself.

Simulation over, Greer orders the implant of a new chip at Samaritan’s behest.


End file.
